Efficacy, Resilience and Leadership

Wed, Oct 5th 2022 at 12:50 pm - 2:00 pm

David McClure the former rector of Madras College touched on experiences from his career.

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President Frank Quinault introduced David McClure in glowing terms. A successful Rector who turned around Buckhaven High School after a damning HMI report and, after two years as Rector at Madras College, had a very good HMI report, a man who was highly respected by colleagues and pupils alike. David's talk, "Efficacy - Resilience - Leadership”, somewhat understated an inspirational series of stories from a Headmaster who was firstly an engineer and subsequently a mathematics teacher. A great believer that all people have skills and qualities, his ethos is that learning is not just for the brightest, but for all. He quoted Canadian Professor Albert Bandura who talked about "self efficacy" and how leaders need to "instil belief”. Teachers need to believe first and transfer this belief to their students. David outlined what he called a unique balance of skills needed to be effective - values, connectivity and pragmatism - which involve four key elements: "knowing how to hold your ground"; practising MBWA (“management by walking about”); TCUP ("Thinking clearly under pressure”); “a bit of arithmetic brings more than anticipated”. School Inspections were always stressful for a Headmaster. One Inspector asked him "Where will we find examples of poor teaching in your school?” -a loaded question, to which he replied (using his principle of TCUP ) "For the last two years, I have visited every class, every day, in Kilrymont and Madras and I have never seen any poor teaching practice”. Finally, David advised a positive approach and confidence in finding solutions. His final advice he called having "hidden quality" - "Being able to take the hits…...because you will get them”. Vote of Thanks was by Angela Fowlis, a career teacher and former Head of Department, who appreciated David McClure's management approach.